Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

...So yeah. I figured we could use a Harry Potter thread. :I

This is for discussion of one of the most widely acclaimed series of modern times, and the best-selling book series of all time. And let's not forget the movie series, the supplemental books, Pottermore, interviews, and all other sorts of Harry Potter-related material out there.

---

To start off—I'm rereading the series! I managed to find all the Harry Potter books around the house and I'm now almost finished with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. My favorite part of rereading is discovering all the minor bits that I'd forgotten about before, like homework sessions in the common room and certain quotes that are still hilarious the twentieth time in.

Speaking of Sorcerer's Stone, I never really understood the people who say they don't like the title change from Philosopher's Stone. The common argument is that it makes it seem like the publishers thought American children were dumb, and that they wouldn't read a book with the word "Philosopher" in the title.

And I'd agree with the publishers. It's a very boring word. "Sorcerer" just catches that sense of magic and actually makes it feel like it's part of the magical world. For some reason people seem to expect kids to understand the historical reference and connect it to what's going on in the book. Sure, it did fine in the UK, and I'm sure if it hadn't been changed the series would still be as popular as it is over here and it wouldn't turn kids away from reading it, but I understand the reasoning and actually quite like what they did with it.

Why did we put this off for so long. Now I feel like finding a hole bunch of gifs and what not.

As for your comment about the little tidbits, I must admit the last time I reread the series a few years ago I was surprised to find out just how few of them I remembered. Perhaps I'll start rereading again....

I recently found out my sister is reading on a 4th grade level (quite advanced considering which grade she is in) and so when she started trying to skip out on her reading by reading kindergarden/pre-school books, Harry Potter was the first series to come to mind. My mom vetoed the idea on the grounds the series was still too advanced for her.

As for my experiences with the series. I remember for the longest time I wouldn't read the spider chapter in Chamber of Secrets. Nor did I like the first chapter of the Goblet of Fire and the book as a whole is my least favorite overall. I think Prisoner of Azkaban was my favorite, and I certainly loved the PS2 adaption. It's presently the only Harry Potter game I've come close to 100% and I love the on the fly switching between characters. Though I did collect all the cards on the first game within the first few levels, something that surprised me.

Oh man this series makes up so much of my childhood and even now still finds its way into my fantasies, though usually without the main characters. Heck now I can even recreate filming of train scenes from the movie if I really wanted to because I own the West Highland Extension, which includes the actual viaduct (Glenfinnan Viaduct) shown in the second movie.

Because it's never really talked about on here for some reason :I maybe there's a Taboo on it :B

There are still some chapters in the series that I can only barely read for silly reasons. I used to always skip "The Midnight Duel" from Sorcerer's Stone, because I was afraid they'd get caught out of bed late at night, even though I knew they wouldn't every single time after the first and I could read the chapter where they do get caught. :B

Goblet of Fire was always my favorite as a kid, then when I was a preteen/early teenager it was either Half-Blood Prince or Order of the Phoenix. Now I'm not too sure which is my favorite, though I'll probably find out on this reread.

As for the video games, I remember playing Sorcerer's Stone on the PS1 a ton. And I believe I had Chamber of Secrets for the Game Boy Color.

And as far as showing the series to kids, when I was younger I could read far beyond my grade level... but I would only read Harry Potter. :B It's actually been really helpful for building my understanding of how fiction works, and how the English language works in general. It does get quite dark though, even in the early series, so it's really up to your parents.

Ugh, one of the things I hate about the first two console games is that if you get caught while sneaking around (which is often required by the game), you lost house points. I was so happy that Prisoner of Azkaban was so much more forgiving, merely sending you back to a check point.

A suppose I could give a brief mention of Goblet of Fire for the PS2, I didn't like it. Yes the graphics were nice and the stuff I actually could get through was interesting, but I didn't like sticking with one character the whole level and that it was a level-based system as opposed to an open world as the other games. Also my stink pellets and dung bombs....

Order of the Phoenix was much nicer by far, though I still missed the switching system. But I suppose that's an alright trade-off for the sheer amount of intractability in the game. You could do all sorts of things from repairing damage left over from the last game, to wizard's chess, to dueling random Slytherins, to blowing shit up. Best of all it was much more immerse than the previous games because you had to use the left stick to cast spells. I think Reparo was a Clockwise Spin while Reducto was a Counter-Clockwise spin, Depuso was two pushes forward, Acceo was two back and so on. Either way it was hilarious to repair a bunch of plates, but leave the spell unfinished at the last moment and watch the plates all smash :P

My parents don't have an issue with the darkness of the series as we often listened to the audio books on the way down to family in South Carolina. The last time we went down it was a Dirt Pitt novel or something of that nature.

I like the game boy color games of the first two films the best.

Ah, we used to have a computer game for like, the first two/three movies or something.

We never finished it I don't think. :I

I want to reread the books again, myself. I'd started a re-read about 2/3 years ago, and realized that there was so much I missed (I started reading the first books in...either 2nd or 3rd grade. I specifically remember being able to read the 3rd book in a week at the start of 4th grade)(lol, that was such an accomplishment. I could probably finish the book in 2 days at most now--I can't remember it's length, though.) I'd only read the first 2 books, though, if I even finished the 2nd.

Movie wise, the 3rd is my favorite. Maybe the Prisoner of Azkaban is just my favorite in general. The 4th one always freaked me out, both book and movie. I know my older siblings did not like Order of the Phoenix because of how whiny Harry was, but when I read it, I kinda liked it.
I really, really don't like the Half-Blood Prince movie adaptation. The book was so fabulous, and then the movie just...ruined it. I'm still mad to this day over it.

I seem to have come to a halt towards the beginning of my Order of the Phoenix reading. Oops. :B I'll get back to that when I have time. Which at this point, seems to be the end of the school year.

In other news, /r/harrypotter is a really cool place to lurk. I especially like their "text-only weeks," which happen once a month, where the only posts allowed are text posts to encourage in-depth series discussion.

That's not a new revelation. I'm fairly certain she also said that around the time the first couple of movies came out. :B

Still, "Voldemore" just doesn't sound right.

So if we're giving this much thought to You-Know-Who's name, then how much attention are paying to the issue of constipation backing up lines to public bathrooms?

...?

it's a joke from the sixth book.

It's a reference to a slogan for the joke shop run by the Weasely twins.

The complete slogan can be found in the first post and the thread is named after said shop.

We've got new details on the Fantastic Beasts trilogy!

Highlights: The American term for Muggle is "No-Maj," and the plot will heavily focus on Wizard-Muggle relations. American Wizard-Muggle relations are even more tense than British, due to things like the Salem witch trials and all that. Oh yeah, and there's a Muggle main character.

Also, if you missed it (I did too :V), here's the logo for the movies.

logo:

Wait, what have I missed?

*is presently wikiwalking a HP wiki*